Veteran Can Forgive But Not Forget Japan's Deeds

April 6, 1995

Near the end of World War II, the Enola Gay (U.S. Air Force) left the Marianas Islands to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. My brother and I were temporary residents of Saipan. He was a combat Marine and I was with the Navy's amphibious forces. Both of us were not looking forward to the upcoming invasion of Japan because we would probably have been a part of that activity. Needless to say, we were very liable to become casualties of that action.

When the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (after warning the civilian population to evacuate), and the Japnese government surrendered, I and all my associates were greatly relieved and joined in the resulting celebration.

After the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, the many atrocities of the Japanese including the Bataan death march of U.S. prisoners, the rape of Nanking, China (literal, not figurative), the live medical experiments on prisoners of war (including Americans), the use of "Comfort Women," the "take no prisoners," and many other misdeeds, they were finally being punished.

Yes, it's time now, 50 years later, to forgive - but never forget - what happened then. It is not time to allow the "politically correct" to distort what happened, or to despoil the memory of those Americans who made the supreme sacrifice in that conflict. To quote Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Dec. 7, 1941 is a day that will live in infamy forever."Only 50 years later we are not only in danger of forgetting what he said, butworse, we are in danger of having those events grossly distorted by the "I hate America" crowd.